SEO Consult Blog

Keyword Stuffing entails inserting, or loading, a web page with keywords in the Meta tags or content, and although keywords need to appear frequently, they cannot appear too frequently as this will be deemed keyword stuffing which is considered an illegal search engine optimization technique that can get you banned from a search engine database altogether and affect your credibility in the ‘community’.  Apart from this, keyword stuffing makes it very hard for humans to read content and this will affect the credibility of your site.

Why some people do it

Keyword Stuffing is usually done for the purposes of achieving maximum rankings on a search engine as well as visibility for particular phrases.  It works by inserting a word which is frequently searched even if this text bears little connection to the content of a page.

The sole purpose is to attract ensure a search results in landing on a page which is loaded with adverts. In other words, when someone is searching which a particular text, they end up landing on a page that has no relevance the search.  In the past, keyword stuffing was considered to be either a white hat tactic, that is maintaining a good reputation, or an unethical (black hat) tactic, but this decision depended on the context of the technique employed, and on the opinion of the person judging it.

This is no longer the case as search engines now employ themed, related keyword techniques to interpret the intent of the content on a page.

It must be said that  keyword stuffing in certain circumstances is not intended to skew results in a deceptive manner, and is not always done intentionally. If you can afford it, get a good copywriter at the start as this will alleviate any negative consequences further down the line.

How Many Keywords is too Many?

Keywords are the function of any search engine, so you have to first take into account what your keyword is and then you need to work out the ratio of the keyword to the total number of words appearing on the page, this is called keyword density.

Almost all search engine algorithms give importance to the number of times a keyword appears on a page, but all search engines are marked by different calculations of keywords, so while some search engines allow large keyword density, others place limits on them.

Ascertaining the keyword density is a critical aspect of any search engine optimization as it is used as a factor in determining whether or not a web page is relevant for a specified keyword or keyword phrase.  So, in order to avoid spamming through keyword stuffing, search engines implement measures other than keyword density.

What is the Ideal Keyword Density?

There is no rule of thumb about this because apart from search engines changing their algorithms, each search engine allows different keyword density percentages.  Aim for a keyword density of between1% - 7%.  A 1% 1% keyword density would mean inserting a keyword once in every 100 words and so on.

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